Police want to trace the owners of the army medals and ribbons which they believe had been stolen.

Officers recovered a metal tin containing three military medals, five badges, a brooch and a button. The officers launched an appeal to track down the rightful owners of the items.

They were seized after a man was arrested in connection with another matter. PC Chris Howard, from Macclesfield Neighbourhood Policing Unit, said: “We know the medals are stolen and want to find out who they belong to. They all look like military items and someone must be missing them.

“They may be precious to someone. The owners may have earned them, or inherited them or they could be part of someone’s collection. Either way we want to reunite the medals with the owner soon.”

Allan Williams, who is chairman of Macclesfield Royal British Legion, said the medals look like new ‘mess medals’, smaller medals which are worn by soldiers for functions and events. He said: “They are modern miniature medals, from campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“There are also current uniform badges connected to Airborne forces, those soldiers who deal with air warfare, like the parachute regiment.

“I’m more familiar with medals from the two world wars, but I do recognise these as being real medals for new conflicts.

“They will certainly be very important to whoever owns them. I hope the owner can be found.”